AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



207 



Report of the IVortli American 

 Bee-Keepers' Convention. 



Written for the Amei-ican Bee Journal 

 BY W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



(Continued from page 211.) 

 At this juncture, Assistant Secretary 

 of Agriculture, Hon. Edwin Willits, was 

 introduced, and made a few remarks. 

 In substance he said that the Secretary 

 of Agriculture was in sympathy with 

 bee-l<eepers. He is not so very much 

 interested in the introduction of fancy 

 races of bees, but is very much inter- 

 ested in the improvement of practical 

 apiculture. In the way of bee-keepers 

 securing aid from the Government there 

 are two difficulties. One is to secure the 

 money to work with. There are very 

 many interests that are asking for as- 

 sistance, and the average congressman 

 is very ignorant upon bee-keeping sub- 

 jects. The next difficulty is as to wJiat 

 to do. An apiary cannot be established 

 at Washington. The Department of 

 Agriculture has asked for 300 acres of 

 idle land near Washington to be used 

 for experimental purposes, and have 

 failed to get it. 



What the Department of Agriculture 

 Ought to Do for Apiculture. 



Last year, at the Albany meeting, a 

 committee was appointed to decide what 

 bee-keepers ought to ask of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. The committee 

 reported as follows : 



The committee to whom was referred 

 the matter of Government aid to apicul- 

 ture, beg leave to report and advise that 

 the bee-keepers of the United States 

 petition — 



1. That the Section of Apiculture in 

 the Division of Entomology, Department 

 of Agriculture, be raised to an inde- 

 pendent Division. 



2. That in connection therewith there 

 be an experimental apiary established at 

 Washington, having all the appointments 

 necessary to a first-class Apicultural 

 Experiment Station. 



3. That the appropriation for this 

 Division be sufficiently large so that the 

 work may not be embarrassed for the 

 lack of funds. 



This is the least that we can ask in 

 justice to ourselves. That most impor- 

 tant part of our business devoted to the 

 production of liquid honey is in great 

 danger of being ruined by cheap sugar. 

 The- chief competition of liquid or 

 strained honey in the manufactures is 

 cane-sugar, and the recent removal of 

 the duty on it, and the consequent low- 

 ering of prices, has materially lessened 

 the demand for honey. We find that we 

 will have to lower the cost of producing 

 honey in order to meet this most un- 

 equal competition so suddenly thrust 

 upon us. Millions of money are taken 

 from the treasury to reimburse the pro- 

 ducers of cane and maple sugar for the 

 loss occasioned by the removal of the 

 duty, but our legislators entirely forgot 

 the producers of honey, whose product 

 is but sugar with the flavor of the flowers 

 added. We do not ask a bounty, but we 

 do ask the Government for all the assis- 

 tance that scientific research and well- 

 directed experimental work can give us 

 in cheapening the cost of production. 

 This is but a moiety of what is granted 

 the sugar men. 



Our industry is still in its infancy, and 

 while many million pounds of honey are 

 already produced, the business is capa- 

 ble of an expansion so great as to 

 wholly eclipse the present production of 

 sugar from the sugar-cane. Four con- 

 tiguous counties have produced, in one 

 season, over four million pounds of 

 honey, and this represents but a frac- 

 tional part of what might have been 

 gathered. Vast as our business may be- 

 come, the indirect benefits conferred by 

 the honey-bee on the agriculturists of 

 this country in the fertilization of the 

 flowers of fruits, grains and seeds, will 

 always surpass in value the value of the 

 honey gathered by the bee. 



The committee have named Washing- 

 ton as the place for the experimental 

 yard, because it would be most conven- 

 ient; also because of the longer season 

 in which to experiment. There may be 

 better locations for honey, but for many 

 experimental purposes a poor location 

 may be best. If for any purpose a bet- 

 ter flow of honey is desired, such a loca- 

 tion may be found a few miles out, and 

 a part of the bees removed to it. 



Should the convention decide to 

 adopt this report, it would undoubtedly 

 be best to have a committee estimate the 

 necessary expense, and immediately 

 formulate a petition for circulation 



